Shloka 38

भीमसेनस्य बहुमहारथसंयुगः

Bhīmasena’s Engagement with Multiple Mahārathas

Devanagari script

अवध्यानां वध कृत्वा राज्यं वा नरकोत्तरम्‌

Transliteration

avadhyānāṁ vadhaṁ kṛtvā rājyaṁ vā narakottaram

Translation

Sinabi ni Sanjaya: “Kapag pinatay ang mga hindi dapat patayin, maaaring makamtan ang kaharian—ngunit iyon ay gantimpalang ‘higit pa sa impiyerno’, sapagkat ang paghaharing binili sa di-matuwid na pagpatay ay nauuwi sa pagbagsak ng dangal at espiritu.”

Word by Word

• अवध्यानाम्: of those who should not be slain / of the unslayable
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अवध्य
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• वधम्: slaying, killing
• वधम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वध
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• कृत्वा: having done / having committed
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage)

• राज्यम्: kingdom, sovereignty
• राज्यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: राज्य
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• वा: or
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा

• नरकोत्तरम्: leading to hell / having hell as the consequence
• नरकोत्तरम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नरक + उत्तर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even if unrighteous violence yields political success, the act of killing those protected by dharma corrupts that success and brings severe karmic and ethical consequences—making the ‘gain’ effectively hellish.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating events and reflections from the battlefield context, frames the moral cost of war: the prospect of winning a kingdom is weighed against the grave wrongdoing of slaying those who should not be slain.